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[plate_builder]

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[fatedsacrifice]

It'd been a really long day, really long. Noctis had been helping Tommy out with some heavier lifting during the day and the king was just plain tired out. But even with their aching bodies, the two had continued to try to excavate to see if they could find anything useful.

Hours had ticked by with just the two of them and finally, Tommy called a halt. So he suggested they both get home, maybe take a nap and the other had promised drinks. Not one to drink but not refusing, Noctis took him up on the offer and went home to shower since the youth had teased him about how all of the dust in his hair made it appear gray. Of course, the king had taken it all in stride and in good nature, but it secretly did bug him.

After his shower, he changed into a black button-down shirt with a black jacket and matching pants. Tommy was just arriving and the pair went to the bar. Almost as soon as they were there, the younger man said he had something to do and took off, after making fun of Noctis not knowing about the bar existing just a few floors beneath him.

But then a drink appeared and Noctis sat there by the tanks, marveling at all of the fish that swam peaceably by him.

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"They're beautiful, are they not?"

Reeve was not the most common person to come to The Deep End. But things got weird when your former boss was around and you felt like you had to help take care of him. But sometimes it meant he needed to come in. Mini, the feline doll-robot that was always with Reeve, had already entered to go climb up to the smaller aquarium and see if there was anything left in there. Reeve, meanwhile, had headed for the bar for a drink, and paused when he saw something else.

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The king's head turned when he heard Reeve's familiar voice. Well, it was always nice to put a full-frame to a person's face normally residing within a small little window. So he stood and offered a hand to the man along with a slight nod.

"I'm Noctis, it's nice to meet you in person."

He wondered what the other man was doing here and of course, Tommy was so very absent right about now. He'd even texted the other in some vain attempt to get the other back, but so far, no response.

And he'd seen that doll..thing but had no idea what to make of it. Except he would eventually ask because Noctis loved cats.

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Mini was busy climbing up onto a chair to put his face against the smaller tank. Reeve peeled off to go greet Noctis, offering his hand.

"Reeve," he offered as a reminder, "likewise. I see you're settling in well if you've already found this place."

Meanwhile Noct's comm was absolutely beeping with a flurry of texts in response. Boyfriend issues. He was going ot be held up.

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"Uh.." Noctis replied intelligently as he let the other man's hand go after shaking it. His blue eyes then went down to his phone to briefly glance over Tommy's flurry of texts. And then the king's shoulders slumped.

Just his luck.

He then looked back at Reeve and nodded. "It was recommended to me."

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"Lost your company?" Reeve asked. That flurry of texts could only be from one individual. Part of him was concerned he had driven the young man away. "Perhaps I can offer some for a time?"

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"Guess so." Noctis replied, sitting down and feeling lost. But then Reeve made his offer and the king looked up at him and nodded to the chair next to the man. "Please, be my guest." That changed things because he was about to leave and go home and fix it up some more.

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Reeve nodded before heading briefly to the counter to acquire a glass and a bottle of scarlet liquid. Then he returned to join Noctis, sitting and pouring himself a small amount of the drink.

"So, how are you adjusting?"

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Dark blue eyes had watched everything Reeve had done and somehow was still surprised when the man rejoined him. But he looked up and smiled when the other sat down.

"Gettin' by." the king replied after setting his drink down. It was an old phrase he used on his boys back when they were younger. Of course, Reeve wasn't Ignis to know there was more to it or that he might possibly be in trouble somehow. But he wasn't here to trouble the man.

He winced at the sting of whatever alcohol he'd just ordered, but it didn't matter. It didn't hurt half as much as the scars on his chest and the childhood injury he received after coming back from Tenebrae.

"How are things for you?"

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"As good as one might expect with the strangeness life brings by being here," Reeve admitted. He lifted his glass and sipped at it before lowering the glass.

"I miss home. I wish there was more I could do. But my skills are not as useful here as I would wish them to be."

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"I think a lot of people would want to go home. Back to their loved ones, their friends." Noct was looking at the glass that was being held in both of his hands now.

But then his eyes looked up at Reeve.

"So there's..no way to adapt your skills from home to here?"

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"I want to go home," Reeve agreed. "Mostly because I haven't finished fixing all of my mistakes."

He tilts his head at the question though.

"There's a lot of things I could do, but we lack. We lack supplies, or workers, or machinery. I do my best. Purpose is something we all find a way to reach for here."

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The comment about wanting to go home and fix mistakes had Noct nod. "I can understand that." He had a lot of mistakes he wished he could fix, but his life was done back there so it wasn't like he could go back home and fix them. He could only hope the guys forgave him for all of them.

But he listened to Reeve go on. "So you're limited because you have more technology back home?" It sounded like that was on the right path anyhow.

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"I'd be limited even if we didn't have technology back home. Have you ever tried to make glass without the right equipment, Noctis? Or build a tall building without a crane?"

Those were things that one could not easily do.

"We can't even easily make wire without going to Tony and asking him for it."

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The king was quiet and shook his head. "I've crafted things, but I can't say I've tried to do major things." Building and architecture wasn't anything he was really familiar with other than admiration. That he would have to hire other people to do for him.

"Tony?" Noctis asked, not knowing that name.

He was more than sure it was just someone he hadn't met yet.

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"Stark. He serves many roles here, wears many hats," Reeve answered. Then he took another sip of his drink. There was not much he could explain very well here.

"How have you been adjusting?"

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Noctis took note of the first and last name and set it to the back of his head. He might find out more later but right now this other guy wasn't important. But the question got a shrug.

"Just hangin' in there."

He really wasn't one to complain and he knew this might be a better place than the beyond, but it still made him wonder why he was here. HE'd done everything he was supposed to as far as saving his world and now he was in another one.

It made no damn sense.

He looked up again at his companion. "How long have you been here?"

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"Just short of a year and a half now," Reeve answered, sipping once more. He'd done so much. And he didn't think it was nearly enough. There was always more that needs done. That needed done. Gaia help him do all he could.

"I'm not as familiar with this place as some others, but I do try."

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"A year and a half.." Noctis mused. Would he too be here that long or even longer? It still gave him a headache to think about why the Kings of Yore would send him here or even if one of the Six had something to do with it. Honestly, he'd done all he could and kept his promises to them, but couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong to be here.

"Makes me wonder how many people you've seen come and go here."

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"More come than go," Reeve admits. "Would you like a drink?"

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"Ya.." His eyes looked over to what Reeve was pouring and he nodded. "I'll have whatever you're having." And after a minute he blinked. "What is it that you're drinking anyway?"

It wouldn't hurt to know what he was consuming and half of him wondered if somehow the alcohol would spring out of all of the scars, but as amusing a thought as that was, he really hoped it wouldn't happen.

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Reeve has to rise and get another glass, but once he does he pours a drink for Noctis.

"There is a fruit here, most people call it red fruit. When ripe it is inherently intoxicating, while tart and somewhat sweet. Cayde processes it into alcohol for us. It's... potent. But it's not like I'm going to get a well aged bourbon here anyway."

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Dark blue eyes looked at the other as he poured the red liquid. "Tart and sweet sounds pretty interesting." But then he lowered his gaze and looked at the table and shook his head. "Didn't really drink back home, but we did have bars."

Not that he ever went to them before the city was destroyed.

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“Was it a personal choice to not drink, or just a matter of circumstance?” Reeve questioned. He slides the cup over for Noct and sips more of his own after. “I didn’t do it much back home myself these days. No time, and what was more, it was a social issue.”

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The king shrugged. "Kinda both." He then took the offered cup and sighed. It would be nice to have his boys back with him but of course, he couldn't because well..reasons. And he wondered what they would even think if they could come back or come to this place and see him.

So instead of wasting time on that line of thought, he took a sip and listened to Reeve. "No social life or didn't want one?" Noctis asked.